Impressions of IPOB NYC

An interesting night for sure. It’a a great way to eliminate many and make a few new future favorites. I will start with the favorites.

*All impressions are for Pinot Noir, save for the sole Lutum Chardonnay.

1. Kutch, both the 2013 Sonoma Coast for its nose and the Falstaff for its depth. tasted twice. An awesome lineup and I will give more money to it.
2. Littorai, I like the 2013 Savoy and the 2012 Mays but found the Cerise a bit ‘grapey’
3. 2013 Peay Pomarium PN. Just a beauty. Not a fan of the others and I was not alone.
4. Tyler 2013 Santa Barbara County PN, it was beautifully fragranced and pure
5. Wenzlu 2012 Sta. Rita Hills, nice complexity for an entry level bottle.
6. Domaine de la Cote Sta. 2012 Rita Hill, another great $45 bottle of Pinot. Had this before and is consistent. Tasted twice
7. My wow wine was the Lioco 2013 Saveria Vineyard, Just had everything, beautiful color awesome aromatics and some great distinction and depth. Tasted the Saveria 3x

What I did not really care for:

1. Native9
2. Mount Eden Vineyards- Who let them in? Ripe man, ripe.
3. Ceritas- If this is Burgundian, keep it. All very odd.
4. Cobb- ever get a glass of petroleum out of a decanter? I did. Very nasty and ruined the glass. wow.
5. Drew- all very average. Some Shrill-like metallic notes.
6. Sadly, Hirsch too. The salinity kills me.
7. Lutum- Just ok-um all across the board-um. A pretty distinctive Chardonnay from Gaps’ Crown is like NOTHING I ever tasted, a bright fruit cornucopia if you will.

It was a fun evening. I love to watch the poseurs and note-writers who clog the line and seem to never want to move right or left. One dude held his glass very high to the incandescents and just stared as he spun the stuff to oblivion. Funny stuff.

I spit and I am happy for the choice. You and me may agree on about 15% of what I said. Polarization is real. I come away from this tasting feeling somewhat hollow, almost like listening to new-age music in the early 90s. I want to learn so much more. If I had $250 to spend at this tasting I would go 4 more Kutch SCs and 2-3 Liocos. As much as I did like the Littorai, I could not see paying nearly 2x as much compared to the Kutch SC, or more than 50% more than the Lioco with the high shipping. The naysayers will say I have no clue, and they may be right but it’s my no-clue and I am sticking to it…
Cheers!

Thanks for the notes, Mike! Your post is a bit difficult to identify if you were tasting Pinots or Chardonnays…
I am also a fan of Kutch, Littorai ($) but will need to seek out a Lioco to try…

Only Pinot Noir. Sorry.

Very interesting line-up. It’s great to watch you venture into this great unknown world of Pinots. It’s the type of tasting I would enjoy when I am drinking again (1 more week to go!).

As a side note, your Cobb observations are surprising but no doubt an accurate reflection of your experience. I actually snuck in a Cobb Pinot at one of the earliest CLONYCs (the small producer one) and it showed quite well. How times and tastes do change.

Cheers!

Kevin, this one seemed like a prank. I never experienced such a huge dose of petroleum in the nose. Undrinkable.
I remember that. That wine was not on the table. In THIS case it’s NOT the taster.

Seems like you are still in pursuit of balance.

Lol.
more like Happyness.

Fairly new to this board Mike but love your candor.

Thanks for sharing your impressions.

I’m a big fan of LIOCO. Same winemaker (John Raytek) as Ceritas btw. Don’t have enough experience to compare and contrast the two. But LIOCO consistently delivers for me - both chards and pinots.

I’m also a big Kutch and Littorai supporter … so glad to see they showed well for you.

Glad to see your impressions, Mike. Jamie had 4 of his wines down for FallTacular and I was a huge fan of 3 of them, notes are up for that. Unfortunately, I missed tasting Domaine de la Cote. Glad you continue to like Littorai, and understand the “no” for Native9. I like his wines a lot, but they are not for every palate for sure.

All best,

Mike

interesting event. got in and out pretty early.
kutch sonoma is a great wine in '13-anyone else get a taste of that sans soufre? really beautiful stuff.
liquid farm’s 4 2012 while a bit too chilled showed beautifully as well.
i also enjoyed calera and big basin’s pinots. matt ryan from big basin reminded me why meeting these guys can be dangerous to your credit cards. so many nice, enthusiastic people in the wine biz!
i found quite a few pinots too lean for me. mike’s use of the word shrill above seems pretty spot on.

one more thought here. it seems there are a lot of critics of parkerized wines on wb, and i would have guessed that ipob would be of major interest to the board. i don’t recall an ipob thread leading up to the nyc event last night, and am surprised at the apparent lack of interest. i know not everone lives in ny and that there are other events around the country and beyond, but what am i missing?

What vintage was the Mount Eden? Sounds good. I’ll have to give that one a try…

Trying to keep it a secret!!

Actually, burgheads abound around here so there’s low interest…

I’m a fan of most of the producers and wines within the IPOB group. A big fan in some cases. That said, I have no interest in attending the event. I don’t have the interest to attend the panels/seminars. They look to be very technical & would be probably of great interest if I were ITB or at least a hobbyist interested in making wine or growing grapes. Occasionally I will become interested in that type of subject matter, and can find ways to read enough information that I don’t feel like I’m missing anything by not getting to interact with the winemakers/growers in person.

I also have found that I generally leave “grand tastings” feeling a bit hollow. My palate will end up shot after a few tastes & the crowded/busy nature isn’t particularly appealing to me.

Lastly, I live in Seattle & with SF being a home base of sorts for IPOB, I highly doubt they will ever come up here for A: geographic redundancy & B: It might not catch with the general public in a state with a local wine industry. So, because of the reasons listed above, I wouldn’t spend the travel $$ associated.

Finally, I buy a large # of the wineries featured within IPOB & generally enjoy opening them over dinner or with friends than tasting small bits in that environment. I realize that means I miss things like the Kutch Sans Soufre, but I can easily live with that.

God I sound like a grumpy old man reading that back. I am very grateful for Mike sharing his impressions & starting the thread & hope other attendees will continue to post their notes.

Maybe not scheduling the event on a Monday would help? I would’ve attended the Littorai/Calera seminar if it had been on a weekend, and I had to give my ticket to the big tasting to a colleague since work obligations kept me in the office till 8:30 (which is pretty common for a school night for the sort of folks in NYC who are buying $50+ wine . . .)

I’m sure the venue is much cheaper on a Monday night but it does chase away a big chunk of their potential clientele.

Maybe it was just an excuse for some of the IPOB heads to just head over to La Paulee

There was an IPOB thread, but it didn’t seem to get much traction:

I’m just getting home so still processing (and recovering a bit), but highlights for me included:

Kutch, Chanin (which was new to me), Lioco, Red Car (their 2014 rosé seems to be just as sippable as the 2013), LaRue (also new to me – and making pinot from the same vineyards that Cobb did: Rice-Spivak and Coastal Vineyards. I was surprised Cobb didn’t show as well) and Wind Gap. Failia’s Keefer Ranch Pinot was also a highlight for me (especially since Russian River is not always my favorite when comparing against Fort Ross, Sonoma Coast or the Anderson Valley).

Littorai was good – but didn’t wow me like they did when I visited them more than a year ago. Of their pinots, the Mays was my favorite. And I now understand why Ceritas is beloved. Very pretty wines. I tasted Copain at the end of the evening – the Monument Tree was delicious and Wells was very gracious as I babbled his ear off.

It was fun talking to Jeff Nelson about Liquid Farm, and meeting Nikki later on (she wasn’t at the table when I went through the tasting). The Golden Slope was my favorite of the bunch (can’t wait for my Berserker Day shipment to arrive!).

I actually liked the event being on a Monday … it gave me an excuse to take a long weekend. The venue was beautiful with gorgeous views of the Hudson River and the city. The amount of people they had was very manageable … I’d hate for it to get any more crowded – so if a Monday will cut the attendance, I don’t mind it at all.

The venue was beautiful. I have spent a lifetime rating venues. High up with a view of the Hudson and NJ on a very cold, read: very clear night.
The glassware was plentiful and overall feel very nice. I think the IPOB people have done a good job. I do not think Monday means cheaper. You can’t please everyone.
Monday, Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays all work for me. Fridays and weekends are pretty much out.

disclaimer: I sometimes pay $50 or more a bottle.

Purely coincidental.

RT